Riverhead Highway Department

While the emergency pick-up of debris from Tropical Storm Isaias is taking longer than anticipated due to the volume of material to be collected, the operation continues and Highway Superintendent George Woodson hopes to have it wrapped up this week.

Sections of Middle Road, Park Road, Roanoke Avenue and Sound Avenue are scheduled for paving Tuesday and Wednesday. Roads will be closed to all but local traffic.

After being told a COVID-related hiring freeze prevented him from filling vacant truck driver jobs because the positions were "non-essential," Highway Superintendent George Woodson warned the town board his current staffing level can't handle the department's snow-plowing duties next winter — and would cause long delays in clearing the roads.

Riverhead’s loose-leaf pickup service may soon be a thing of the past, forcing homeowners to find alternatives to the free service historically provided by the town highway department.

Pier Avenue is closed to traffic to all but local residents today for drainage repair work being done on the north end of the road. 

Hulse Landing Road between Rt. 25A and Sound Avenue will be closed to traffic today between 9 a.m. and about 3 p.m., Riverhead Highway Superintendent George Woodson said this morning.

Vehicles became stranded this evening at the bottom of Baiting Hollow Hill on Sound Avenue, said Riverhead Highway Superintendent George Woodson, who urged motorists to slow down and use extra caution on local roads tonight. The National Weather Service has issued a high wind warning tonight and a coastal flood advisory.

“We’ll get started in the morning and it should only take a few hours total,” Riverhead Highway Superintendent Gio Woodson said.

A cured-in-place fiberglass pipe-lining technology developed in Germany was used to repair a pipe on Fanning Street last week. Highway Superintendent George Woodson is hopeful the method will be of great value in making trench-less repairs to aged drainage pipes downtown.

The 6,600-square-foot, heated building has the capacity to store 26 highway department trucks and will allow highway crews to operate more efficiently and more quickly during storms, Highway Superintendent George Woodson said.